“What did you read at Uni? Cricket?”

Students have an ever-growing and seemingly limitless number of degrees to choose from these days. Wallpaper-paste-management, how to design a video game and Toenail Clipping in 21st Century Politics are three which don’t yet exist. But then nor does a degree in cricket…or does it?

How ridiculous. Call me old-fashioned, call me a stick in the mud, but I cannot believe the number of degrees available is in any way beneficial to the future of our education system or in securing employment. It’s almost as though universities are challenging eachother in a Most Unlikely Courses competition each year. I didn’t go to uni – yes, I was going to and some say I should’ve gone – but I don’t feel I have missed out on anything other than the fun part, popping persil tablets and vomiting out of windows. Circumstances at the time dictated my decision.

Specific degrees tailored towards a particular profession are absolutely necessary, but there are too many spurious subjects on offer for there to be any benefit to the employer or employee. I think businesses are wising up to the university treadmill, too. Although I must admit, before joining Cricinfo I was massively handicapped by a lack of a degree. What angered me so much was the number of companies who didn’t specify a particular degree – anything would have done, which makes a total mockery of the whole system! If it was an IT job, a degree in biology would have been just fine. My experience in the field, running my own small business and with a list of clients as long as my arm counted for nothing apparently.